Photography Finally Got Too Good

[mso489]

foggy, your post raises interesting questions about buying high-level pipes online. Through no fault of SP, it sounds

like the photo misrepresented the pipe. To get the length wrong was absolutely an error. Length and weight should be

right on target. This is a recommendation for pipe shows, where you can see the pipes in person, but unlike brick and mortar

stores, where the prices are usually a little lower. I was intrigued that the Castello you returned was also a panel, since you

have a number of Dunhill panels. I have a weakness for that shape, though mine are mid-level price pipes, and two low, a

Kaywoodie Saxon and a Yello-Bole Checker. Not sure why panels are so appealing. They grip nicely, and look spare and

sturdy to me. Glad you traded back the pipe with no problem.

 

[warren]

+1 There are a couple of different brands available out there. I swear by them when using live view. Also, very good at checking focus before taking the shot. Also for culling after a burst, therefore saving space on the card.

 

[woodsroad]

Mine is a Hoodman and it works OK. Way overpriced gor what it is. I'd like to get a better one, but that means a trip into NYC to check them all out. Maybe the day of the next NY Pipe club.....

 

[darwin]

When shooting film I never thought that choosing which negs to print was in any way "deleting" images but I suppose operationally it amounted to the same thing. I may try the loupe business but there's another issue preventing me from using a phone very much and that is that I'm getting on in years and my hands shake enough to make shooting extremely frustrating when they are held out away from me and holding something as light as an iPhone. What images I do shoot are mostly on my aging Minolta DiMAGE A2 and I appreciate being able to focus and zoom manually, crop precisely, and control exposure in the camera. Plus I have a battery pack/handgrip on it that ups the weight significantly and helps tame the shakes. Image quality is on a par with my iPhone which is no slouch itself notwithstanding my operational difficulties with it.
There was a day back in 2006 when I was still working at the paper and I got an order to scan some negs from the library files. I found the correct neg drawer and it was only half full because on a certain date a few weeks earlier our photogs had ceased to shoot film altogether. I stared, almost in grief, at that last day's worth of negs for several minutes. It's not often one directly witnesses such a profound and abrupt end of a technological era.

 

[tuold]

A different, happier experiance here.
I thought the Irish Harp I bought from Smokingpipes.com looked better in person than the web site picture which made the dark stain look much darker on my computer monitor even though I had tuned my monitor according to their instructions. Even the "cumberland themed" acrylic stem was hard to see in the pictures and much more pronounced in hand.